About The World Bank

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What is the World Bank, and what does it do?

What is the difference between the Bank and the World Bank Group?
Who owns the Bank?
How does a country become a member of the Bank?
Who runs the Bank? What are the Boards of Governors and Executive Directors, and how are they
selected?
Who is the president of the Bank, and how is the president elected?
What is the World Bank Inspection Panel?
How many people work for the Bank, and where do they come from?
How can I contact Bank staff?
How do I organize a visit to the Bank's headquarters?
What is the Bank's policy on sharing information with the public?
Where does the Bank get its money?
Does the Bank make a profit and, if so, what is done with it?
Why is there still so much poverty after 60 years of the Bank's existence? Doesn't that show that
you've failed in your mission to free the world of poverty?
Why is there so much criticism of the Bank, and why did protests against the Bank occur?

What is the World Bank, and what does it do?

 The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries
around the world. We help governments in developing countries reduce poverty by providing them
with money and technical expertise they need for a wide range of projects—such as education,
health, infrastructure, communications, government reforms, and for many other purposes. For more
information about the Bank, what we do and how we do it, please go to the About Us section of our
website.
FAQs

What is the difference between the Bank and the World Bank Group?
 The term "World Bank" refers only to the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The term "World Bank
Group" incorporates five closely associated entities that work collaboratively toward poverty
reduction: the World Bank (IBRD and IDA), and three other agencies, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International
Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). To learn more about each institutions' role,
visit the World Bank Group.
FAQs

Who owns the World Bank?

 The Bank is like a cooperative in which 187 member countries are shareholders. For a
complete list of our members and when they joined, see the Members page in the About Us section
 of our website.
FAQs

How does a country become a member of the World Bank?

 Under the Articles of Agreement of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD), a country must first join the International Monetary Fund (IMF) prior to becoming a member
of the Bank. Membership in IDA, IFC, and MIGA is conditioned upon membership in IBRD. For more
detailed information on procedures for membership and subscription in each organization, go to
General Information.
FAQs

Who runs the Bank? What are the Boards of Governors and Executive Directors, and
how are they selected?
 The Board of Executive Directors and the president of the Bank—who serves as chairman of
the board—are responsible for the conduct of the general operations of the Bank, oversee the work
of the Bank on a daily basis, and perform their duties under powers delegated to them by the Board
of Governors. The directors meet twice a week in Washington, D.C., to approve new loans and
review bank operations and policies.
The Board of Governors is made up of shareholders—187 member countries—who are the ultimate
policymakers at the Bank. Generally, the governors are member countries' ministers of finance or
ministers of development. They meet once a year at the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors
of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund to set the overall policies of the
institution, review country membership and perform other tasks. Because the governors meet only
annually, they delegate specific duties to the 24 Executive Directors, who work on-site at the Bank.
According to the Articles of Agreement, the five largest shareholders, France, Germany, Japan, the
United Kingdom, and the United States, each appoint an executive director, while other member
countries are represented by 19 executive directors who represent constituencies in several
countries. Each of the directors is elected by a country or group of countries every two years. It is
customary for election rules to ensure that a wide geographical balance is maintained on the board.
FAQs

Who is the president of the Bank, and how is the president elected?
 Robert B. Zoellick is the 11th president of the Bank. He is chairman of the Bank's Board of
Executive Directors and is also president of the five interrelated organizations that make up the World
Bank Group. By tradition, the Bank president is a national of and is nominated by the executive
director of the largest shareholder in the bank, the United States. The president is elected by the
board of governors for a five-year, renewable term. By a long-standing, informal agreement, the
president of the Bank is a United States national, while the managing director of the International
Monetary Fund is a European.
To learn more about the Bank's past presidents, go to the Archives.
FAQs
 What is the World Bank Inspection Panel?
 It is an independent panel that was established in September 1993 to help ensure that our
operations adhere to our operational policies and procedures. The panel allows people who think
they may have been adversely affected by a Bank-supported project or projects to ask for an
investigation, which is called a request for inspection.
FAQs

How many people work for the Bank, and where do they come from?
 Some 10,000 development professionals from nearly every country in the world work at the
Bank in Washington, D.C., or in our more than 100 Country Offices. We are economists, educators,
environmental scientists, financial analysts, anthropologists, engineers and many others.
Approximately 3,000 of us work in country offices in the developing world. We apply our skills and the
Bank's resources to bridge the economic divide between poor and rich countries, to turn rich country
resources into poor country growth, and to achieve sustainable poverty reduction.
FAQs

How can I contact the Bank staff?

 The Contact Us web page provides you with this information. The general formula for a Bank
email address is the first letter of the first name immediately followed by the family name, followed by
@worldbank.org.
You can also find a World Bank expert by topic of expertise and by language spoken. Since only a
portion of the knowledge and expertise of the Bank's staff is found on these pages, contact Media
Relations to locate an expert on a subject that is not specifically listed.
FAQs

How do I organize a visit to the Bank's headquarters?

 We offer briefings to visiting groups of 15 people or more on selected Tuesday and Thursday
mornings throughout the year. Visitors receive an overview of Bank history, our mission, and
development challenges, followed by a question and answer session. Space is available on a first-
come, first-served basis, and groups are combined, whenever possible. At least a month's notice of a
proposed visit is required for groups of 50 or more, and they may be accommodated separately. All
briefing requests should be submitted in writing to Angelica Silvero at msilvero@worldbank.org.
FAQs

What is the Bank's policy on sharing information with the public?

 We believe that sharing information is essential for sustainable development, so we seek out
opportunities to talk about our work with the widest possible audience. Access to information
stimulates public debate, broadens understanding of development issues, and enhances
transparency and accountability in the development process. It also strengthens public support for
development efforts, resulting in improvements in the quality of our assistance. Therefore, it is our
policy to be open about our activities.
To that end, we've expanded the information that we make available to the public and have
 streamlined access to it. Project Documents, including environmental and social assessments, are
available throughout the Project Cycle, as well as our operations results, research and reviews.
Approval is often withheld for projects, when project documents are not posted according to
disclosure requirements. To facilitate timely public access to this information, we have established
the World Bank's InfoShop, which is located in Washington, D.C. In addition, information is
disseminated globally through the Public Information Centers (PIC). PIC staff members develop
proactive outreach programs within their countries.
FAQs

Where does the Bank get its money?

 We raise money in several different ways to support the low-interest and no-interest loans
(credits) and grants that the World Bank (IBRD and IDA) offers to developing and poor countries.
IBRD lending to developing countries is primarily financed by selling AAA-rated bonds in the world's
financial markets. IBRD bonds are purchased by a wide range of private and institutional investors in
North America, Europe, and Asia. While IBRD earns a small margin on this lending, the greater
proportion of income comes from lending out our own capital. This capital consists of reserves built
up over the years and money paid in from the bank's 187 member country shareholders. IBRD
income also pays for World Bank operating expenses and has contributed to IDA and debt relief. We
maintain strict financial discipline to maintain the AAA status of our bonds and continue to extend
financing to developing countries.
Shareholder support is also very important for the Bank. This is reflected in the capital backing we
have received from shareholders in meeting their debt service obligations to IBRD. We also have
US$178 billion in what is known as "callable capital," which could be drawn from our shareholders as
backing, should it ever be needed to meet IBRD obligations for borrowings (bonds) or guarantees.
We have never had to call on this resource. For more information on the Bank's bonds and notes, go
to the World Bank Debt Securities.
IDA, the world's largest source of interest-free loans and grant assistance to the poorest countries, is
replenished every three years by 40 donor countries. Additional funds are regenerated through
repayments of loan principal on 35-to-40-year, no-interest loans, which are then available for re-
lending. IDA accounts for nearly 40 percent of our lending.
FAQs

Does the Bank make a profit and, if so, what is done with it?
 We often do have a surplus at the end of the fiscal year, which is earned from the interest rates
charged on some loans and from fees charged for some of our services. Some of the surplus goes to
IDA—the part of the bank that provides grants and interest free loans to the world's poorest
countries. The rest of the surplus is either used for debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries,
added to financial reserves, or helps us respond to unforeseen humanitarian crises.
FAQs

Why is there still so much poverty after 60 years of the Bank's existence? Doesn't that
show you have failed in your mission to free the world of poverty?
 For the Bank, the bottom line is that there has been progress, but there has not been enough.
We continue to do all we can to make sure successful projects and approaches are shared more
 widely so there's a greater impact on poverty reduction. At the same time, we've learned from past
mistakes and constantly work to improve our policies and programs. While poverty still exists, much
progress has been made:
 During the past 40 years, life expectancy in developing countries has risen by 20
years—about as much as was achieved in all of human history prior to the mid-20th century.
 During the past 30 years, adult illiteracy in the developing world has been nearly
halved to 25 percent.
 During the past 20 years, the absolute number of people living on less than US$1 a
day has begun to fall for the first time, even as the world's population has grown by 1.6 billion
people.
 During the last decade, growth in the developing world has outpaced that in
developed countries, helping to provide jobs and boost revenues poor countries' governments
need to provide essential services.
FAQs

Why is there so much criticism of the Bank, and why did protests against the Bank
occur?
 Our role in development and in the wider globalization of the world's economy has often been
misunderstood. On one hand, this occurred because we did not explain the Bank's mission or our
work very well. On the other, critics tried to blame the bank for any or all of the perceived problems
associated with globalization—the growing integration of economies and societies around the world
resulting from increased flows of goods, services, capital, technology, and ideas—an economic force
that the Bank does not control. Also, protests drew worldwide attention to the problem of extremely
high multilateral debt levels carried by very poor countries, which high-income countries ultimately
agreed were unsustainable and stifled the ability of poor countries to both pay those debts and
combat poverty. This led the Bank and International Monetary Fund to form the Debt Initiative for
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and to further financial pledges by high-income countries to
assist the Bank to carry out debt-relief efforts for heavily indebted poor countries.
FAQs